5/30 Crop Report for Fulton County

Corn planting is completed. Emergence is progressing well and stands are good. Some nitrogen sidedressing is under way. Several have asked about nitrogen rates recommended by OSU. Midwest universities have moved away from a crop response model for N rates and have adopted an economic model that takes into account the current price of nitrogen and corn. The rates suggested are based on crop response models but acknowledge the wide range in corn yield response to various nitrogen rates. The model uses an Excel Spreadsheet format and can be found at Nitrogen Spreadsheet. For example with a corn price of $5.60 and anhydrous price of $900 a ton ($0.55 per pound of N) a total of 149 to 158 pound of N is recommended.

Soybeans are 65-75% planted. Emergence of the earliest planted beans began this week.

Wheat is in the 10.1 (head emergence) and will soon be in the 10.5 stage (flowering). This is the time to monitor for the potential for head scab. The wheat scab predictor website is an excellent monitor of weather conditions by region. Remember, scab develops best when wet, humid conditions occur during the seven days before flowering, so even if it is dry at flowering, any three to six days of extended rainfall during the seven days before flowering would be enough to increase the risk of scab. Now that we have fungicides labeled for head scab suppression, the risk tool would be of great value to help guide fungicide application decisions. Proper timing of fungicide application is critical for head scab suppression. It is extremely important to apply the fungicide at anthesis (when fresh male floral parts are seen sticking out of the heads), well before visual symptoms are seen on the heads. Symptoms usually develop about three weeks after anthesis (depending on the weather), so the risk tool can be used as a predictor of the risk of scab occurring to help guide fungicide decisions. In general, fungicides provide about 45 to 55% reduction in scab and vomitoxin, if applied at anthesis. Applications made 3 days before or 3 days after anthesis will reduce the level of suppression.

Alfalfa harvest has continued this week and should eliminate the potential for alfalfa weevil damage. Only a few fields have had the presence of this insect and damage has been fairly limited.